


Who Cares about Fate Anyway?

by writerbot5000



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But not a Metaphorical One, Established Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, F/F, Fluff, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Multi, Polyamory, Sam and Reign Share a Body but not a Heart, Well they Share a Literal Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-11-24 11:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20906942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerbot5000/pseuds/writerbot5000
Summary: After a new powered individual, known only as Reign, shows up in National City and helps Kara save Lena's life, the trio work together to help Reign uncover her past.Meanwhile, Alex and Maggie decide to buy a house in the suburbs. Both women find themselves enchanted by their lovely new neighbor, Samantha Arias. So when Sam tells them about her increasingly frequent blackouts, they are determined to help their new... friend?





	1. Prologue: Small Changes

_2 hours before the destruction of Krypton: _

In retrospect, taking three weeks off for that team-building retreat had been a mistake. Sure, it had done wonders for morale, but it put them so far behind schedule. Now the destruction of Krypton was only hours away and they still hadn’t finished the summoning ritual for their first Worldkiller. 

Selena’s sources had assured her that Krypton’s destruction was still years away. She should have known better than to trust the same scientists that had doomed their planet in the first place to be able to accurately predict how much time they had left. They’d had to abandon their plans for summoning three Worldkillers. Now their only hope was that Reign would be able to complete her work alone. 

Selena knew it was time to act. “We need to launch the rocket now.” 

“But we haven’t finished the ritual yet!” Ayala protested. 

“It will have to be enough. If we don’t prepare for launch now, we’ll miss our window and then everything really will be lost.” 

A single Worldkiller should be more than enough to handle anything a primitive planet like Earth could throw at her, even with the shortcuts they had to take with the summoning ritual. Reign would just have to complete her development while inside her human host body.

At Selena’s instructions, the acolytes stopped their chanting and the infant was bundled up and placed in the waiting rocket. Moments later, the small pod was off and flying towards its distant destination. 

“Do you really think it will work?” Ayala asked. 

“It will work,” Selena reassured. “It’s not like Reign will turn her back on her duty and help the humans over her own people or anything...” 

* * *

_Six months ago: _

“Let’s buy a house!” Alex blurted out. Maybe it was a weird thing to say in the aftermath of an alien invasion, but she just couldn’t wait. 

“What?” Maggie gasped. 

“I want to build a life with you,” Alex responded, taking Maggie’s hands in her own, gently squeezing the other woman’s fingers. “I know we’ve only been dating a few months, but I think today proved we could die at any moment. I don’t want to waste--” 

“Let’s do it!” 

“Yeah?” Alex asked, face lighting up. 

“One condition?”

“Anything,” Alex swore. 

“We get that dog.” 

Alex laughed, “I don’t care how many dogs we get, as long as we get them together.” 

“You going sappy on me, Danvers?” 

As Alex pulled her girlfriend into a celebratory kiss, she briefly wondered if Maggie would have been equally as excited if Alex had gone with her first instinct and asked the other woman to marry her instead. She quickly pushed the thought away though; she knew in her heart that Maggie was the one for her. And now they were going to start a home. Together!

* * *

_1000 years from now: _

“Hey, babe,” Imra said, plopping down on the couch next to her husband, “What are you looking at?” 

Mon-El turned the tablet, showing the screen to his wife, “Brainy found an old L-Corp thumbdrive. He’s pretty sure it belonged to Lena Luthor.” 

“Lena Luthor… She was Kara’s best friend, right?” 

“Looks like they became more than that,” he said, gesturing to the photo on the screen. It showed a laughing Kara Danvers, curled up on a couch snuggled between two other women. One was Lena Luthor, but Mon El wasn’t sure who the other woman was.

“What do you mean?” 

Mon-El pointed at the bracelet on Kara’s wrist and the matching ones the other two women were sporting. “Those are Kryptonian bonding bracelets. Matching Kryptonian bracelets.” 

“Oh, wow. So they got married?” 

“Looks like it.” 

“They look really happy.” 

“Yeah,” Mon-El agreed. “They do.” A few years ago, Mon-El knew he would have felt a flash of jealousy seeing that his ex had moved on without him. But that was before Imra. Now when he looked at the photo, he just felt a gentle fondness for his former love. 

“Did Brainy find anything else?” 

Mon-El shook his head. “Most of the data was too corrupted. It looks like there were originally thousands of photos, but this was the only one he was able to recover.” 

“That’s too bad,” Imra sighed. “I kind of want to know how they got together now.” 

“Well, Brainy could always build us a time machine,” Mon-El suggested. 

Imra laughed. “I can see it now. Sorry, Time Bureau, we know we accidentally broke time, but we were so curious!” 

“Yeah, that might not go over so well,” Mon-El chuckled. “I guess we’ll never know the full story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I'm not expecting Mon-El, Imra or Brainy to turn up in the main story, but I thought it would be good to check in on them here. Pestilence was never created so the Legion never had a reason to travel back in time to stop her. Without Pestilence, Mon-El, Imra and Brainy's lives all play out quite differently too.


	2. A Timely Assist

“Lena, you have to climb!” Kara implored as she struggled to hold the two halves of the airplane in her hands. The weight wasn’t a problem for Supergirl but airplanes are not built to stay in the air after they are broken in half, nor to hold their weight on just two points. Kara was scared that the plane would disintegrate at any second. 

From her vantage point, Kara could see the moment Lena made the decision that she wasn’t going to die; that she wasn’t going to let Edge win. Kara couldn’t help but cheer as Lena pushed herself off the bottom of the plane and started to climb. 

Seconds later, with Lena only a few feet up the side of the plane, they hit a pocket of turbulence. Kara was just barely able to keep hold of both halves of the plane after the unexpected jolt. Lena wasn’t so lucky, crashing back down to the bottom of her half of the plane. 

Fortunately, Lena didn’t seem to be injured by the fall, but as she tried to get back up, she tripped and fell. “Supergirl, my leg is stuck!” Lena shouted. Kara could see her best friend struggling to free her leg from the mesh netting it had plunged into during the fall. Precious seconds ticked by as Lena tried and failed to free herself. “You’re going to have to drop me after all!” 

“No!” Kara shouted back. “We’ll figure something out!” That was not happening.

“Supergirl, you know as well as I do that this plane isn’t going to stay intact much longer. You have to let me go or those chemicals are going to end up in the reservoir!” 

Kara shook her head. “Then they end up in the reservoir; we will shut down the water supply until we figure out a way to treat the water.” 

Lena shook her head, looking just as adamant as Kara felt. “I refuse to be the Luthor that poisoned the city’s water supply. It could take months or years to make the water safe to drink again.”  
“I… I can’t lose you,” Kara pleaded, her voice cracking. 

Kara wasn’t sure if it was what she said, how she said or the expression on her face, but after her plea, Lena’s eyes went wide with surprise, “Kara?” 

“Yes, it’s me,” Kara confirmed. It didn’t even occur to her to try and deny it. “I will explain everything, I promise. But first I need to save your life, okay?” Kara begged. Even as she pleaded, Kara realized that no matter what Lena’s answer was, there was no way she could let Lena die. Lena might hate her for it, but Kara couldn’t be responsible for her best friend’s death.

Before Lena had a chance to respond, Kara heard a voice to her right shout, “Need a hand?” Kara whipped her head around, just barely remembering to keep her grip on the plane steady in her shock. There, hovering in the air just a few feet away from them, was another woman. 

“Are you strong enough to hold one of these?” Kara tilted her head, gesturing to one of the plane halves. Despite the fact that she was wearing sleep pants and a ratty UNC sweater, the other woman had to be either an alien or a meta, what with the flying thousands of feet in the air. Probably the smarter thing to do would be to ask if she was strong enough to carry Lena. A person was a lot easier to carry than half of an airplane. But Kara was too scared to think about trusting her best friend’s safety to some random stranger. 

The other woman tilted her head, considering. “I’ve never tried to lift something that big, but I think so.” 

“Okay,” Kara nodded. “Good enough for me. Can you grab the one in my left hand?” That was the half of the plane filled with barrels of toxic chemicals. 

The other woman didn’t reply, just darted down, positioning herself along the bottom of that half of the plane. She flipped onto her back, placing her arms on the undercarriage of the plane and using her full body to take the weight of the plane. Kara could feel that half rise several inches in her hand. “Got it!” the woman yelled. 

“Okay, follow me!” Kara answered. She let go of the other half of the plane and was relieved there was only a minor jolt as the other woman compensated for Kara’s absence. Keeping her hand on Lena’s half of the plane, Kara swung around inside the plane so she could grip her half with both hands and easily grab Lena should the plane start to break apart. She gently began flying towards the shore, slowly descending as she went.

“Kara? What’s happening?” Lena asked, still trying to free her leg from the netting. 

“Don’t worry, the chemicals are safe. Someone else showed up to help. She’s carrying the other part of the plane.” 

“Another superhero?” 

“I think so? I’ve never seen her before tonight,” Kara admitted, shrugging as much as she could without jostling the plane. “She’s dressed like a civilian. But she can fly and she’s strong enough to carry the other half of this plane. She just showed up and offered to help.”

“Other superheroes just show up out of the blue?” 

“It’s more common than you might think. If she is a superhero, she’s gotta be new though. She doesn’t have a uniform or mask or anything,” Kara paused for a moment, using her x-ray vision to confirm the new hero was still following them. “But she can fly and she’s got super strength so I figure she has to be an alien or some sort of metahuman. Or maybe a cyborg, I guess? We can always ask her once we land. Though we should probably ask her for her name first; it’s only polite.” 

“My name is Reign,” the mystery woman called from under her half of the plane.

“Oh, apparently she has super-hearing too,” Kara added. “She says her name is Reign. Is that R-A-I-N? Or R-E-I-N?”

The woman chuckled. “It’s R-E-I-G-N, actually.” 

“Oh, sorry. It’s R-E-I-G-N. Nice to meet you, Reign.” 

“You too, Kara,” Reign answered. Kara couldn’t help but grimace. Reign must have overheard at least part of her conversation with Lena. Alex will probably be okay with Lena having figured out her identity, but Kara knew her sister won’t be happy to find out that a total stranger knew her secret. At least her last name hadn’t been mentioned. 

“”Everything okay?” Lena asked, evidently having seen Kara’s grimace. 

“All good,” Kara reassured, focusing her attention back on Lena. “We should be on the ground soon.” She could worry about her identity later; right now, she needed to make sure her best friend didn’t freak out. Lena had confided in Kara that she had a fear of flying at the best of times. And this is far from the best of times. 

“And how soon is soon?” Lena asked. “Cause it kind of feels like this plane might fall apart at any moment.” The other woman was putting on a brave face, but Kara could see the hints of fear seeping through her calm facade. 

“Don’t worry, it should only be another minute or so. And even if something did go wrong with the plane, I can get to you in like a fraction of a second,” Kara explained. “The only reason I’m still carrying this is I figure even without the barrels of toxic chemicals, we probably don’t want to drop half a plane into the city’s reservoir if we don't have to.”

“Okay. Okay, a minute isn’t very long.” 

About thirty seconds later, Kara gently eased her half of the plane down in a clearing she had spotted. Checking with her x-ray vision, she could see that Reign had done the same with her half. “Okay, we’re all good,” Kara heaved a sigh of relief. “The chemicals are safely down on the ground about fifty feet from us.”

“Thank god,” Lena sighed before trying once more to pull her leg free. “Can you give me a hand with this?” 

“Oh, sure,” Kara said, darting across the narrow space even as she spoke. She leaned over, examining the mesh netting. “Wow, you really got jammed in there. Do you mind if I use my heat vision to cut the netting?” 

Lena nodded her ascent so Kara focused her heat vision, cutting through the netting in several places with a narrow beam, taking care to stay as far from Lena’s leg as possible. 

Lena gaped at Kara. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”  
“You’ve seen me use my heat vision before.” 

“I’ve seen Supergirl use her heat vision before,” Lena corrected. “This is the first time I’ve seen my best friend shoot lasers out of her eyes.” 

Of course, Kara was still wearing her Supergirl suit, but she could understand Lena’s point. “Is… is that a bad thing?” 

“No, of course not. You’re still my best friend, right?” 

“Always,” Kara confirmed. 

They had a lot to talk about, but there was no time for that right now. Even before Lena could respond, Reign was sticking her head in their half of the plane. “Everyone okay in there?” 

“We’re good thanks to you,” Lena answered. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come along.” 

“Yeah, thanks for the help,” Kara added. Kara knew exactly what would have happened if Reign hadn’t shown up. She would have saved Lena and right now they’d be in the process of shutting down the reservoir. Lena wouldn’t have been very happy with her, but Kara knew that was the only way that scenario was going to play out if Kara had been forced to choose to save the chemicals or her best friend. 

“I’m happy I could help, Kara,” Reign answered. 

“She knows your name?” Lena gasped. “I thought you had never met her.” 

“That is your name, is it not?” Reign asked, furrowing her brow. 

Kara briefly considered trying to lie her way out of the situation, but she hated lying. Besides if Reign was a fellow superhero, surely she would understand the need for secret identities. And it’s not like she knew Kara’s last name anyway. So she decided honesty was the best way to go. “Yep, I’m Kara. Though I usually go by Supergirl when I’m in uniform.” 

“Supergirl?” Reign asked, seeming puzzled by the name.

“You’ve never heard of Supergirl?” Lena asked. 

Reign shook her head. “I’m kind of new. I sensed danger and when I came to help, I heard your names. She’s Kara and you’re Lena, right?”  
“That’s right,” Kara confirmed. 

“And you’re Reign?” Lena asked. 

“I am Reign,” the other woman confirmed with a nod. 

Kara tilted her head, picking up the sounds of DEO vehicles approaching their location. Kara still didn’t know much about Reign, but memories of her own first encounter with the DEO flashed through her mind. She had been knocked out with a Kryptonite dart and dragged in against her will. The DEO had gotten less extreme in its methods since then, but with how powerful Reign seemed to be, along with her being a complete unknown, the DEO would probably want to take her in. Kara had the feeling Reign could be a real friend; Kara didn’t want to ruin that by having Reign end up as a DEO target. 

“The… the people I work with will be here soon. They don’t really trust strangers so you should probably leave before they get here. I’d like to learn more about you though, can we meet up tomorrow?” 

“Of course,” Reign answered. “But I’m not sure if tomorrow will work for me. How about tonight instead?” 

It was already after midnight, but Kara didn’t want to miss out on a chance to learn more about a new potential ally. Especially one that seemed to have a powerset similar to her own. “Okay, yes. Tonight works. I’ll have to go back to the DEO first; they’ll want to know what happened here, but we could meet up in a couple hours.” 

It was then Kara realized another problem. She felt like she could trust this new hero, but she also had a voice in her head, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Alex, telling her that she shouldn’t be giving away her secret identity to someone she’s known for all of ten minutes. If she wanted to keep Reign from making the connection from Kara to Kara Danvers, she couldn’t very well invite the other woman to her apartment, but it wasn’t like there were a lot of great meeting options in National City at 2 AM on a Tuesday night. 

Apparently sensing Kara’s dilemma, Lena offered, “You could meet at my place. Kara and I have a few things to discuss anyway.”

“Oh, you wanted to do that tonight?” Kara asked. “I thought you might want to wait until tomorrow. It’s already late and knowing you, you’ll still be in the office at 7:30 AM just like usual.” 

“I will be,” Lena acknowledged. “But with everything that happened today, I won’t be able to get to sleep anytime soon anyway.” 

“Okay, 2 AM at your apartment,” Kara agreed. Part of her worried about having Reign come to Lena’s apartment when they still knew so little about the hero. But Reign had just helped save Lena’s life, and Kara would make sure she got there before 2 AM, just to be on the safe side. “Is that okay for you, Reign?” 

With the DEO still bearing down on their location, it was quickly agreed they would all meet at Lena’s apartment at 2 AM. Lena gave Reign the address for her penthouse, along with instructions on how to find the balcony. At Kara’s urging Reign flew out of view just as the first DEO vehicles rounded the ridge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Kara and Lena have some time for the Supergirl talk. Then Reign will show up so all three can talk.


	3. A Late Night Talk with Donuts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously on _Who Cares about Fate Anyway?_  
Lena figured out Kara's identity and Reign showed up so that Kara could save Lena without having to drop toxic chemicals into the city's water supply. The trio planned for a meeting later that night.

To say that Lena had a lot to process was an understatement. Over the last few days, she had thought she had been responsible for inadvertently poisoning children, found out that she was being framed by Morgan Edge, gone to his office to confront the man only to be knocked out and awaken in a plane loaded with toxic chemicals and set to crash into the city’s water supply, then had not only accepted but actively argued for her death to save the water supply. No matter how much Lena prided herself on her ability to compartmentalize, that was a lot to handle. And then on top of all that, she had learned that her best friend was Supergirl. It was hard to know how she was feeling with so much to process.

Luckily the DEO had only asked for a brief statement from Lena on site before an agent drove her back to her penthouse. Lena suspected that might have been Kara’s doing. As such, she ended up back in her apartment just a bit past 12:30 AM. 

Reign was supposed to be meeting Kara at Lena’s apartment at 2, but Lena wasn’t sure when Kara would show up. With Kara’s protective streak (which made even more sense now that Lena knew Kara was Supergirl), she suspected the hero hadn’t wanted to let Lena out of her sight in the first place, so she had little doubt that Kara would be turning up at any moment. 

Kicking off her heels, Lena poured herself a large glass of whiskey and lifted the glass to take a drink before she paused, the amber liquid just inches from her lips. She really wanted to just get drunk right now, but that’s basically all she had done the entire time she had thought she was responsible for those sick children. It’s probably also why she had gone off to confront Edge without even the smallest semblance of plan. Getting drunk wasn’t going to help her process anything. And she wanted to be sober enough to actually talk to Kara when the other woman arrived. Sighing, Lena dumped out the glass and filled it with water instead. 

Glass of water in hand, Lena collapsed on an armchair in her living room. For the next half-hour, she just sat there, staring off into space, taking an occasional sip of water, doing her best to just let her brain process everything that had happened. She was relieved to have her name cleared, furious that Edge would go so low as to risk the lives of children just to get revenge on her, intrigued to learn more about the new hero in town, but the one thing that she kept circling back to was finding out Kara was Supergirl. 

There was no question of whether Kara really cared about her or not. The reason Lena had figured out that Kara was Supergirl was because of the anguish on Supergirl’s face when Lena was trapped at the bottom of the plane and the hero’s outright refusal to allow Lena to fall. If their friendship had been a lie, or just a way to keep tabs on her, Kara could have just heeded Lena’s wishes and let Lena die. But it was clear there was no way that Kara would have let Lena take that plunge even if Reign hadn’t shown up. 

Now that she had finally figured it out, Lena wondered how she had failed to see Kara’s secret for so long. The way both Kara and Supergirl always stood by her no matter what; Kara’s literally inhuman appetite; the fact that Kara and Supergirl had the same eyes; the way Kara was always having to run off on some random work or family emergency; oh, god, Kara had even told her she had flown to her office on a bus during one of their very first meetings. Lena really should have figured it out sooner. 

Lena was pulled from her thoughts by a knock at her balcony door. A quick glance confirmed that it was Kara; the other woman still in her Supergirl regalia. Kara met Lena’s eyes and gave a hesitant wave. 

Lena went over to the door, sliding it open so that Kara could enter. 

“I brought donuts,” Kara said, holding up the three boxes she was carrying. “This is a ‘Thank you for not hating me for hiding my identity’ box,” Kara said, handing the first box to Lena. “This one is for Reign; it’s a ‘Thanks for helping me save Lena’ box,” she explained, setting the box on the table. 

“What about the third box?” 

“Oh, this one is just a ‘Let’s all enjoy some delicious donuts’ box,” the hero answered, before setting the box next to Reign’s. “You can never have too many donuts, Lena.” 

Lena set her own box of donuts down next to the others and stepped forward and wrapped her friend in a tight hug. Kara was clearly caught off-guard by the gesture, but she hugged Lena back after a second. 

“Not that I’m complaining, but what’s this for?” 

“This is me thanking you for saving my life. I realized that with all the craziness that was going on, I never actually thanked you earlier.” 

“Of course,” Kara replied. “I’m always going to be there to save you.” 

“You’ve always been my hero, Kara. I just never realized that you took that duty quite so literally,” Lena answered with a teasing smile on her face to let Kara know she wasn’t mad. 

“I’ve wanted to tell you. For like so long now.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Lena asked. There was no malice in her voice. No accusation. No hurt. If she had found out some other way, her first thought might have been that it was because she was a Luthor. But she knew that wasn’t why. She just wanted to know the real reason. 

“You’re the only person I can just be me with. Just be Kara,” Kara explained. “Everyone expects me to be her, like all the time. To be the hero. Don’t get me wrong; I love my friends. I love my sister. I love being Supergirl. I love that I can save people. But I wasn’t born with these powers. On Krypton, I was just a regular person. We have different customs and culture, but in a lot of ways, being a Kryptonian on Krypton wasn’t all that different from being a human on Earth. 

“It was so nice to have someone who knew me as just Kara and yet still thought I was important. Who valued me for what I could do as a regular person. You once told me that even though Supergirl had saved you, Kara Danvers was your hero. Other than Alex, you’re the only person in my life that likes me more than you like Supergirl. I was worried if I told you that we were one and the same, you might think that Kara was just an act. That Supergirl was the real me.” 

If there was anything Lena knew, it was the pressure of having to live up to an ideal. All her life she had to live up to other people’s expectations. As a Luthor. As a CEO. As the not-evil Luthor that everyone watched with suspicion. “You’ll always be Kara to me, darling,” Lena reassured. 

Kara gave Lena a soft smile, “You’re amazing, you know that?” 

“That’s what you keep telling me.”

“I’ll keep saying it until you believe me,” Kara quipped. 

Lena just nuzzled her head onto Kara’s shoulder, enjoying the closeness of her best friend before reluctantly separating. “What time is it?” 

“It’s almost 2. Reign should be here soon.” 

“Is… is it okay if I ask you questions about Krypton some time? I know we don’t really have time right now, but I always enjoy getting to learn more about my best friend.” 

“I’d love that,” Kara answered, “I don’t get to talk about Krypton nearly enough.” 

Knowing they would be interrupted by Reign’s arrival at any moment, there was an unspoken agreement to switch to lighter topics. Kara took out her phone to show Lena pictures of the adorable kittens her neighbour had adopted earlier in the week.

It should have been jarring to see Kara being Kara while dressed in her Supergirl uniform, but Lena realized she had already adapted to Kara being Supergirl. Obviously Kara being Supergirl changed things in some ways, and Lena was looking forward to learning more about what those changes might be, but Kara would always be Kara to her. The fact that Lena’s best friend was also a superhero was just another facet of her life. 

For the second time that night, a figure appeared on Lena’s balcony. The woman was still dressed the same sweater and sleep pants she had been wearing the last time Lena had seen her though her clothing was a bit worse for wear. There was a rip on one of the sweater sleeves and the bottom of her pants were wet. 

Reign did not seem bothered by her attire though, as she walked in through the open balcony door and greeted them, “Hello!”

“Rough night?” Lena asked, gesturing to her clothing. 

“There was a man in an alley, trying to rob someone,” Reign shrugged. “I stopped him.” 

“Are you okay?” Lena asked, at the same time, Kara asked, “Is the man okay?” 

“He hurt his hand when he tried to stab me. I blocked the attack,” Reign explained, gesturing to the tattered sleeve of her sweater. “The knife bounced off my skin and it got stuck in his hand. I do not believe it was a serious injury however.” 

“The knife bounced off you?” Kara asked. 

“Of course. Humans can’t hurt me.” 

“Are you an alien like Kara?” 

For the first time, Reign’s face betrayed a hint of uncertainty. “I believe so.” 

“You aren’t sure?” 

“I know that I was sent to this planet to make it a better place.”

Lena wondered, “Do you know who sent you? Or where you were sent from?” 

“No,” Reign answered, shaking her head. 

“How long have you been on this planet?” Kara asked. 

“I’ve been here all my life.” 

“And you decided tonight was the time to start the whole making the planet a better place thing?” Kara asked, before pausing. “Sorry, this is starting to feel like an interrogation. We do want to know more about you, but not in like an interrogationy way. Just in like in a we want to be your friend way.” 

Reign tilted her head, regarding the pair before responding. “I think I would like that.” 

“Great!” Kara clapped her hands together. “Oh, shoot. I have something for you!” the hero added before zipping across the room and back in the blink of an eye. She was now holding one of the boxes of donuts. 

“I got you these donuts!” 

“Donuts?” Reign asked. It was clear from her tone that the woman didn’t know what donuts were. 

“You’ve never had donuts before? Gosh!” Kara then launched into a lengthy discussion of donuts, outlining the difference types, the pros and cons of glazed versus powdered donuts and why the jelly donuts were her favorite. At the end of her speech, she held the box open for Reign to make a selection. 

Reign stared at the donuts for several seconds with a serious expression on her face that belied the fact she was just picking between different donuts. Eventually she hesitantly reached out and selected a honey cruller. 

“That’s a honey cruller,” Kara explained. “So technically not a donut, but still a good choice!” Kara beamed. Lena knew from past experience there were no bad choices when it came to donuts and Kara. 

It was clear from the way the newcomer’s face lit up after she bit into the cruller that she shared Kara’s love for pastries. She quickly ate a couple more, picking actual donuts this time. 

“Thank you for this amazing gift,” Reign said. “I had no idea that Earth food could be so delicious.” 

This lead to a discussion of other Earth foods that Reign just had to try. It was mostly Kara coming up with suggestions, of course, but Lena chimed in with a few suggestions of her own. It was clear from her expression that Reign took their suggestions in, soaking up the information like a sponge. 

Eventually it was Reign that got them back on track. “Just a few hours ago,” Reign admitted. “That’s when I started helping people. I was… asleep and I think I sensed something was wrong. The first thing I heard when I woke up was the two of you on the plane.”

The timing was certainly fortuitus . Almost too fortuitus really. Ordinarily a revelation like that would be setting off alarm bells in Lena’s head. But there was something about Reign’s earnestness that made Lena want to trust the woman. 

“Thanks again for that,” Kara said. 

“I’m glad I could help,” Reign answered. “It is why I am here.” 

“So you plan to keep doing it?” Lena wondered, “Being a hero, I mean.” 

“Ooh, we can team up!” Kara added, clearly excited about the idea. 

“I think I would like that,” Reign answered, offering a shy smile. 

Lena eyed the new hero’s tattered clothing. “If you’re going to be a superhero, you’ll need a costume. You can’t really fight crime in sleepwear.” 

Reign eyed the hole in her sweater before nodding in agreement. 

“Kara, do you think the DEO would be able to put something together for Reign?” 

“Um... maybe it would be better if we don’t involve the DEO. They aren’t really fans of unknown quantities. And if Reign can’t give them information like where she is from, they’re going to be all, ‘We should lock her up until we can be sure she’s not a threat.’ When it comes to powered individuals, they’re kind of lock up first, ask questions later.”  
“They would just lock her up?” Lena asked. “But... she’s a hero!” 

“The first time decided to be Supergirl, they shot me with a Kryptonite dart and brought me in. And when they first found out J’onn was an alien, they arrested him. I wasn’t even going to mention Reign to them until I could prove to them she was a friend, but I couldn’t really explain the two pieces of the plane being safely landed without mentioning Reign showing up. I told them she could be trusted, but J’onn and Alex are pretty suspicious when it comes to new powered people.” 

Lena had so many more questions about the DEO after that revelation, but she knew it wasn’t the time so she decided to focus on the more pressing matter for now. “I can build a suit for Reign.” 

“That’s a great idea!” Kara agreed. “I’d be happy to help any way I can. I have access to some pretty cool materials at the Fortress that might come in handy.” 

“I would be honored,” Reign answered, bowing her head slightly. 

The next hour is spent discussing suit ideas. Reign didn’t really have any thoughts on a suit at first, but as Kara and Lena began making suggestions they were able to draw Reign out of her shell a bit and soon they were all spitballing ideas, with Kara being able to share first-hand experiences on the benefits and drawbacks of various suit features and Lena just going a little nuts with the science. By the end of the hour, they had some great initial designs for Lena to get started with. 

Lena was just finishing up with her latest design sketch when she looked over and saw that at some point in the last few minutes Kara had fallen asleep in her chair. .

“I suppose we should call it a night,” Lena said, pitching her voice softer so as not to wake Kara. “I think I have everything I need to start working on a few mock-ups. We can meet back up in a few days and I’ll show you what I have.” 

“Okay, I will come back here in a few days. I look forward to seeing what you come up with,” Reign agreed, matching the hushed tone Lena spoke with. 

Reign was turning to leave when Lena interrupted. “I’ll text you when I’m ready.” 

“Text me?” Reign asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, on your phone. Can I have your number?” 

“I don’t have a phone,” Reign answered. 

“Okay, well, can you come back here Saturday evening? I can make sure I have something ready for you by then.” 

“Saturday,” Reign repeated. “I will be here.” 

“Great,” Lena responded. She also made a note to herself to get a phone for Reign. If she and Kara were going to be working together, they would need a way to contact each other. “I must say, I’ve never built a superhero suit before. It should be fun.” 

“Thank you, Lena. I think the three of us will make a great team,” Reign responded. 

“I think so too,” Lena answered, holding out a hand to Reign. She hadn’t expected to get involved with crime-fighting, but now that she knew Kara was Supergirl, Lena had already started thinking on things she could do to keep her friend safe. She would be happy to provide Reign those same benefits. 

With a follow-up meeting set, Reign made her departure, flying off the balcony and disappearing back into the rapidly waning night. Lena was anxious to get started working on some of her new ideas, but she knew right now, the thing she wanted most of all was to just collapse into bed.

Looking over at Kara, who had at some point in the last few minutes wrapped herself up in her cape and was still sleeping in the chair, Lena made a split second decision. She picked up her phone and sent off two quick texts then walked over to her sleeping friend. She gently placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “Darling, wake up.” 

Kara did as instructed, but her eyes were blearily and she looked a little confused. “Huh, I’m up.” 

Lena couldn’t help but smile at Kara’s sleepy expression. “It’s been a long day, for both of us.” It was amazing to think only 12 hours ago Lena had thought she had been inadvertently responsible for poisoning children, and just 6 hours ago, she had been in a plane fully expecting to die. “I think we both could use a good night’s sleep. And since it’s now after 4 AM, I texted Jess to schedule a press conference for 3 PM and let her know I won’t be in before then. I then sent James a text telling him I needed your help with a project so you won’t be in the office tomorrow either.”

“Thanks, Lee,” Kara answered. The hero hesitated for just a moment before adding, “Do you want to maybe get lunch tomorrow before your press conference? I know we still have a lot to talk about.” 

“Actually,” Lena said, looking down, “I was thinking maybe you could stay here tonight? You shouldn’t be flying with how tired you are, and today’s been such a rollercoaster. I could really use some Kara Danvers cuddles.” 

“Of course,” Kara answered, smiling up at Lena. “That sounds perfect.” 

This was far from the first time the two friends had shared a bed. Kara had really struggled when Mon-El had been forced to leave the Earth. Kara had been there for Lena again and again so Lena had made it her personal mission to provide her best friend whatever support she needed. And it turned out that when she was feeling down, slumber parties were the thing that Kara craved most. 

The first few nights, it had been a group affair, with Maggie and Alex joining them; the four of them watching terrible movies on Netflix and eating more junk food than Lena ever had in her life. 

Kara’s L couch was big enough to sleep two people, but that still meant someone had to share the bed with Kara. Lena had kind of assumed that person would be Alex, but Alex and Maggie were both passed out by midnight. Lena had been pretty exhausted herself but she could see that Kara wasn’t ready to sleep so she had forced herself to stay up for another couple hours. When Kara finally had been ready to go to bed, she shyly asked Lena if she would be willing to share the bed with her. Lena, of course, never had been able to refuse Kara anything so that’s how the two women had shared a bed for the first time. 

Lena hadn’t never had a friend she felt comfortable enough with to share a bed with before. Kara must have anticipated that as she had kept a respectful distance between them when they first climbed into the bed. 

Just as Lena had been drifting off to sleep though she had heard Kara sniffle quietly. Looking over, there had been enough moonlight coming in through the windows that she could see tears running down Kara’s face. 

“Oh, darling,” Lena had whispered. “What can I do?” 

“Can… can you hold me?” Kara had asked, her voice hitching. 

Without further prompting, Lena had slid over to Kara’s side of the bed, wrapping an arm around her best friend. Lena had gently stroked the other woman’s hair until Kara had fallen asleep about twenty minutes later. 

The two women had been subjected to some gentle teasing the next morning when Maggie and Alex had found them wrapped up in each other. At some time during the night, Kara had rolled over and buried her head in Lena’s shoulder, tangling their legs together in the process. Kara felt much better and Lena hadn’t been able to remember the last time she had slept that well so neither of them had minded a bit of good-natured ribbing. 

There had been quite a few more slumber party sleepovers over the next few weeks; sometimes one or both of Alex and Maggie would join them and sometimes it was just the two of them. But ever since that first night, no matter who was there, Kara would always share her bed with Lena, claiming that her best friend gave the best cuddles. 

Eventually Kara’s mood improved and the sleepovers tapered off, but ever since then, whenever one of them was feeling stressed, worn out, or just down, there would be another sleepover. Sometimes they were too busy to have the full slumber party experience, but they always had time for the actual sleeping part. 

A few minutes later, the two women were lying in bed when Kara admitted, “I was kind of worried you might not want to do this anymore. At least not for a while. You have to really trust someone to sleep next to them, and I lied to you about who I was.” 

Lena was quick to squash that idea. “You never lied about how you were. Not really. You may have hidden the fact you can fly and made up what were, in retrospect, some pretty terrible excuses about why you were gone when I woke up sometimes, but you didn’t hide how much you cared, or how you supported me, or what a great friend you have always been.”

Kara looked like she was going to respond, but she just opened and closed her mouth a few times before reaching across the narrow space between them and engulfing Lena in a hug. After a few moments, she said softly, “I was worried we would lose this once the truth came out.” 

“You’re never going to lose me, Kara,” Lena reassured. It had been a trying few days, but through it all, Kara had been her rock and that hadn’t changed. As she drifted off to sleep, Lena thought how lucky she was to have such a great friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena can be a little oblivious about her feelings sometimes. She'll get there sooner or later though!
> 
> In the next chapter, we'll get to check in with Maggie as she gets help from a new neighbor!


	4. Moving Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously on Who Cares about Fate Anyway?
> 
> Kara and Lena talked, then Kara, Lena and Reign talked, then Kara and Lena shared a bed since they are such good friends.

"Why would we hire movers, Sawyer?" the detective huffed to herself in her best Alex Danvers’ voice as she strained to carry the heavy box up the stairs. "My sister can work faster than any mover can."

Handling the move themselves had been a fine idea in theory. Alex had a point that it was silly to shell out money for movers when they had someone with super strength and super speed who would be happy to help. And everything had been going great. They were able to get everything packed and loaded onto the truck without a hitch. 

The problem was that halfway through unloading everything from the moving truck and taking it into their new home a science experiment had gone awry. Suddenly there was a forty-foot spider rampaging through the suburbs on the other side of the city. Kara, Alex, James, Lyra and even Winn had all been called in to help with the situation, leaving Maggie to finish unloading the truck alone.

Maggie had been tempted to wait for everyone to come back, but the moving truck was supposed to be back at the rental place by 8 and there was no telling how long it might take to deal with a giant spider rampage. Lugging heavy boxes did prove to be a good way to keep herself from worrying about the fact her girlfriend and her friends were battling a giant freaking spider, but it wasn’t exactly easy work. 

The job was taking a lot longer now that it was just Maggie and she didn’t have any superhero assistance, but she eventually managed to get all the remaining boxes out of the truck, up the front steps and into the living room. 

Luckily they had unloaded most of the furniture before everyone had to leave, but the ugly green sofa that Alex had insisted needed to come was still waiting to be unloaded from the back of the truck. There was no way Maggie would be able to wrestle the monstrosity up the stairs all on her own, but she figured if she could at least drag it onto the driveway it would be okay there until everyone got back. 

Maggie successfully managed to slide the sofa all the way to the edge of the truck, but when she tried to pull it off the back of the truck, she realized there was no way she could get it on the ground without just dropping the thing. 

Unfortunately by the time the detective realized that the sofa was simply too heavy, it was more than halfway off the back of the truck and the damned thing was too heavy for her to simply just push it back onto the bed of the truck. “Crap!” she groaned as she tried to figure a way out of the situation without damaging the hideous sofa her girlfriend loved for some reason. 

“Need a hand?” a voice offered, nearly causing Maggie to drop the sofa in surprise. 

The owner of the voice must have noticed her almost slip-up as suddenly there was a woman standing beside her and the weight of the sofa was drastically reduced. With a second person, Maggie was able to slide the sofa off the back of the truck without further issue. 

“Thanks! I thought that thing was going to kill me!” Maggie looked over at her savior. The brunette was wearing a tanktop that really showed off her arms and, judging from the light sheen of sweat covering her skin, she must have been out for a run before coming to Maggie’s aid. 

“No problem,” the woman answered. “Want me to help you get it inside?” She gestured with head to the sofa they were still carrying.

“We can just set it down out here. You already saved me from death by sofa. I don’t want to make you lug this all the way up the stairs as my way of saying thanks.” 

“I don’t mind,” the woman shrugged. “It’s not that heavy with two of us.” That was a statement Maggie definitely would not have agreed with, having almost been crushed by the sofa’s heavy metal frame just moments ago. However the other woman seemed to have no trouble holding her end of the sofa even though Maggie could tell that she was carrying more of the weight than Maggie was.

“If you’re sure you don’t mind…” 

And so the two women carried the couch up the stairs and into the house. Maggie took the front half and walked backwards, guiding the couch up the stairs while the other woman did most of the actual lifting. 

Maggie was in awe of this woman’s strength. Sure, she was used to seeing Kara lift far heavier objects with ease, but for a human, this woman must be very strong. Maggie couldn’t help but notice the way her new companion’s muscles flexed as she carried the bulk of the weight up the stairs. 

“Thanks again. Would you like a drink or something?” Maggie offered. 

“Just a water would be good,” the other woman answered. 

Maggie opened the cupboards only to spot an obvious flaw in her plan. “Um, I just realized all the glasses are in one of those boxes in the living room still. I think Alex put a couple of six-packs in the fridge though. Beer okay?” 

“Works for me,” the other woman agreed. 

It turned out that the fridge contained two six-packs of beer and literally nothing else. Maggie made a mental note to make a run to the grocery store once Alex got back. She grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge, handing one to her guest before opening her own. 

“Oh, shit,” Maggie blurted out, “I just realized I never actually introduced myself. Maggie Sawyer,” she said, reaching her free hand out to the other woman. 

“Samantha Arias,” the woman answered, shaking Maggie’s hand. “Though my friends usually call me Sam. And since we’re neighbors, that’s probably close enough.” 

“Neighbors, huh?” Maggie asked. Logically she knew the other woman must live within running distance, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were neighbors. 

“Yep! Right next door actually. My house is blue two-storey to your right.” 

“Oh, nice.” 

As they drank their beers, Sam asked, “I noticed you had a whole crew helping you get moved in earlier. Did your friends bail on you?” 

“Yep,” Maggie said. “My friends and my girlfriend all left me here by my lonesome.” 

“Ouch!” 

Maggie just shrugged. “It wasn’t their fault. Apparently there’s some sort of giant spider running around the other side of the city right now. My girlfriend is with the FBI and her sister is a reporter and they both got called in. And the rest of my friends that were here today are either affiliated with the FBI or the media so everyone got called in to deal with the situation in one way or another. It sucks, but it’s not like I can really blame them.” 

“Sure you can! I mean, yeah, it’ll make you look like a bit of a jerk if you do, but they left you to lug a bunch of heavy shit all by yourself. Screw them!” Sam joked. 

As they enjoyed their beers, the two women went through a lot of the standard getting to know the new neighbor questions. Sam explained how she and her daughter Ruby had moved to National City a few years prior when Sam had decided to leave her project management job and become a freelance consultant. Maggie talked a bit about her own job as well as Alex’s fake FBI job and why she and Alex they had thought this would be a good neighborhood to live in. 

Maggie wasn’t one to open up to new people easily. And even though their conversation never really went beyond the superficial, Maggie felt an instant connection with her new neighbor. She had a feeling they were going to be great friends. 

“You’re alright, Arias. It’s been a long time since I lived in the suburbs and I was a little worried we’d end up with like some judgemental jerks or annoying Ned Flanders-types as neighbors. It’s good to know we’ve got at least one half-way decent neighbor.” 

“Only half-way?” 

“You did help me carry that couch inside, but a great neighbor would have carried it all by herself,” Maggie joked. 

“Well, I’ll have to see what I can do to earn a ‘good neighbor’ title one of these days.” 

As much as Maggie was enjoying talking with a potential new friend (and getting to actually sit down after a day of lugging way too many boxes), she realized that she really needed to get the truck back or the rental place would be charging them for an extra day. “I don’t want to be a rude host or anything, but I just realized I only have about forty-five minutes to return the rental truck so I think I might have to kick you out now.”  
“Oh, of course,” Sam answered, pausing for just a beat before asking. “Do you have a ride back?” 

Maggie checked her phone and saw there were no new messages. Which meant the spider rampage situation must still be ongoing or else Alex would have texted. “Doesn’t look like it. I’ll just take an Uber back.” 

“Nonsense,” Sam waved off the suggestion. “I’d be happy to give you a lift. Ruby and I can follow you to the rental place and we’ll give you a ride back.” 

“You sure it’s no trouble?” Maggie asked.

“Of course not,” Sam answered. “I figure this will get me at least up to a decent neighbor, right? Just give me like ten minutes to get changed and get Ruby and we can go.” 

“Eh… Decentish,” Maggie joked, waving her hand to indicate it was so-so. “Seriously though, I really do appreciate it.” 

“I’m happy to help,” Sam answered. “Besides, I have a feeling you and I are going to be good friends,” she added in an echo of Maggie’s earlier thoughts. 

Maggie can’t help but tease, “Geez, you haven’t even made it to decent neighbor and you’re already angling for good friend?”

“What can I say, I’m ambitious.”

As Sam made her way back to her own house to get changed, Maggie was more sure than ever than Samantha Arias was going to be a good friend to have. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, we'll check in with Alex and Kara in the aftermath of Spidergeddon. And then Alex will get a chance to meet her new neighbors.


End file.
